


The Dark Arts and Crafts

by Caprilicious



Series: Long Time, No See! [1]
Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Opinions, Dumbasses, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, One day I'll learn how to tag, Original Character(s), Other, Swear Breathing Bats?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:00:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27345454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caprilicious/pseuds/Caprilicious
Summary: Some say that the worst thing someone can do is hate. Whether it be a person, a group, or an idea, the fiery passion that the word invokes leaves others to rush to attempt to correct them. "Oh, you don't hate that, that's a strong word," they say, as if it is the antithesis to all that is good. Love, passion, creation itself, these are not the inverse of hatred. Nay, the true opposite of love is indifference.Forced to take refuge in a secluded, spacious, fully furnished castle, a hero rises up from adversity, armed with nothing but a sword that is way too heavy, his fiery best friend, and functionally infinite wealth at his disposal, he must embark on a treacherous journey to defend, nay, AVENGE the honor of everything he holds dear, and maybe even save the world with a few new friends in the process.
Series: Long Time, No See! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1996900
Comments: 5
Kudos: 11





	1. Philibuster

**Author's Note:**

> Just in time for the holiday season.

Dear Ralsei,

  
  


Have things been okay for you since you got to the castle? I know it must be a little frightening, but I know you’re brave. It won’t be forever, and I will visit as often as I can, I promise you. I miss you both so much, but it is very important that you stay there until I tell you that you can come home. It’s like a vacation, isn’t it? You get all that space to yourselves, and you don’t have me or your father to tell you all about the rules, isn’t that fun? Your father and I both miss you, I should have said, and we love you both so very much. I’ve attached a few recipes for your favorite foods so you don’t miss them, but please get your brother to help you with them, I don’t want for you to get hurt on the stove or the oven. I’ve left a note for him as well, so could you please hand it to him when you’re done reading this? If he asks you to do something, it is most likely me asking him to tell you that, so please listen to him. It’s very, very important! I know you have never been one to disobey, heck, maybe I’ll give you things to tell him to do next time, but for now, he is in charge. I will see you very soon, Ralsei, I promise. I love you so, so very much.

-Love,

Mom

  
  
  


Ralsei pushed up his glasses as his eyes scanned through the letter again and again, like he hadn’t already memorized it months ago. There had been other letters they had received since, but this one was Ralsei’s favorite. It was the first one that his mother had sent them since they had moved, and it was the one that made him feel just a little bit less alone. His brother had kept all of the other ones, meaning they must have been pretty important for him to want to keep track of. His brother seemed to do a lot of things that he couldn’t be let in on, and it was as if he ignored him most of the time. Ralsei wasn’t allowed to write back to his mother, but sometimes he liked to pretend to. He was too young to have paid any mind to their address, opting just to write “The King’s House”, because surely everybody would know where that was, right?

Ralsei rested his cheeks down onto his hands, sitting down at the little desk in his room with a sudden feeling of curiosity. He had tried a hundred times before, but he really had nothing better to do, so he figured he’d try once again. He grabbed the bottom of the page and flipped it over, switching to what was supposed to be for his brother’s eyes only. It was written in a language he didn’t understand, the same as everything else written by or for his brother. Normally he never would have read something that wasn’t for him, but the rules that his brother had set in place were starting to get to him, and he wanted to make sure it was actually their mother telling him to enforce such things. He stared at the page, not even knowing what he was trying to do, as there was no way for him to understand the bump patterns that replaced the letters on his side. He focused hard, looking for...something. A pattern, a symbol, a legend, anything at all. But just like all the other times, he couldn’t find so much as a place to start. It frustrated him more every time he tried, being unable to see if the unhappiness he felt was even necessary, or just a trick by his brother. He had never thought of his brother as the type to perform such lying and trickery, but he just couldn’t believe that his own mom would have such harsh rules in place for seemingly no reason. He couldn’t go outside, he couldn’t have any friends, or even talk to anybody except for his brother and-

“RALSEI!” A distant voice screamed out from elsewhere in the house, making him perk up and immediately head for his bedroom door. He opened it and caught another less-screamed sentence in its middle.

“COME OUT AND GET SOME FOOD!” The voice of his brother shrieked through the castle, the hanging syllable of the last word being cut off as Ralsei made his way to the central living area.

“Stop screaming! Do you know how loud you are? My ears are ringing…” A woman’s voice rasped beside the tall beanpole of a monster, her pointed ears folding into her head with a scrunched face.

“I’m not deaf. He could be anywhere in this place, I have to make sure he hears me.” It was a genuine concern, as Ralsei had been known to wander off into the most ungodly corners of the castle, but he couldn’t help but snark.

“That doesn’t mean you have to do it right in my fucking ear.” She glared up at him, almost forgetting that he can’t actually see her do it. But luckily, they had a system in place to workaround his limitations. “I’m glaring the absolute shit out of you right now.”

The lanky Darkner seemed to pick his head up a little and turn to her, squinting his eyes slightly. “Really? You don’t look any different than usual.” He grinned. “I am looking at you, aren’t I? It’s hard to tell with the height difference.”

“Ha ha. You don’t think I know I’m short? I haven’t grown in like 3 years, Ralsei might be taller than me pretty soon.” She rolled her eyes and stretched her arms out, the thin and long bones that ran through her leathery wings cracked delightfully, making her give a fanged wince of strain. “But I’ll take being short over being tall any day. I’ve accepted it.”

“Yes, I’m sure you love having to fly up to get something off the top of the refrigerator.” He felt around for a chair at the kitchen table, one much too large for only three people, a running theme in the castle.

“Hey, I got wings to get around, you got your glasses or your mask to see shit, it’s the same thing. I was born short, you were born blind, we’re basically the same person.” She walked up behind him as he was seated and grabbed onto his horns, lamenting internally over their inward curve preventing her from performing many a handlebar joke. Light footsteps dragged her attention away before she could even get told to stop, turning her around and facing the resident little brother. He didn’t say anything, but looked at her with shyness tinting his cheeks.

“Um...what did you make?” Ralsei stammered out, trying to find something else to look at. He still wasn’t completely comfortable around his brother’s friend, despite having lived with her for the past year or so. He knew of her existence before the move, but his mother had never mentioned her in any letters, or when talking to him and his brother about the moving plan. It made him wonder why and how she was even with them now.

“Rhoda made scrambled eggs. Breakfast for dinner. Again. You really should let me cook more.” The seated darkner grumbled without even turning to face the other two.

“And have to listen to you whine about how your glasses make you tired and sore? No flipping thanks. I’ll bring you a plate, you big baby.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Dear Philbert,**

  
  


**I hope things have been good there, as well as uneventful. I do not mean to scare you, but I need you to be in the know since you are in charge of you and your brother, and I trust that you are old enough to not need to be coddled in this serious matter. Your father should have no way of finding you, I made sure of that, but you still need to be careful. Under absolutely no circumstances are you to let Ralsei leave the castle grounds, and anywhere outside at all without you accompanying him. As for you, you are only to leave when absolutely necessary, such as going to buy food and any other supplies you may need. I will be sending you money every month, but it will be more than enough. The last thing I need my children worrying about right now is going hungry. When you do leave, it is wise to wear some sort of covering, as our kind tend to stick out, especially out by the Cards. You cannot be too careful. Do not worry about these letters giving you away, as I am having a very trusted advisor and personal friend leave them in an inconspicuous place. I have had the post office informed of the somewhat strange request to take mail from the mailbox in front of a burnt down house, but if you are reading this it means it went without a hitch. Speaking of, I know it’s bad timing for something like that to happen, especially with everything going on now, but if I can see you again soon, and I must admit that is a very large “if” on account of your father already growing suspicious, I implore you to speak your mind on the subject. I worry for you, Philbert, you hardly seemed fazed by it, but with everything else I suppose it is no surprise you were in shock. That poor, poor girl. I will write to you again soon, more often than once a month hopefully, but you are grown enough to know better even if I tried to lie to you. I miss you, and I love you so very much.**

-Mom


	2. Punk Rock Dog

“So…”

“How was everybody’s day?”

The eyes of the bat seated at the head of the table glanced back and forth at the two brothers sitting across from each other at the dinner table, the quiet tapping of silverware on porcelain having stopped for a moment to allow space for her words in the air. Neither of the princes looked particularly thrilled to share, either looking nervous or unamused. She had asked partially in jest, having finished her food first as she often did, and had grown a bit tired of watching the bigger goat try to eat scrambled eggs out of a bowl with a fork despite her insistence that a spoon would make it much easier with his lack of sight.

“How was our day?” Philbert said with a bit of a squint. “What do you mean?” He looked in her general direction, but it was the effort that mattered so she felt regretful anyway.

“You know, like…” The shortness in his voice had caught her off guard, not having anticipated that his difficulty in eating would have frustrated him beyond the usual sighing that it brought. “What’d you do all day?” She caught her statement again after letting it hang. “Ralsei? Anything?”

It was a large table with a large chair, which combined with Ralsei’s runtish status made the boy look even more helpless than he really was. The surface of the table had only his chest up visible, and the readying look on his face told Rhoda that he had something, at the very least. “Um, I tried to read a book, but all the ones I can find are too hard.” He poked at the egg remnants on his plate, keeping his eyes locked onto it.

“Really? Do you know what it was about?” Rhoda tried to continue the subject, both to take the heat off Philbert and to savor the interaction she could get out of the younger brother. “I used to love reading when I was your age.” A smile spread across her face as she felt a connection, as well as an idea.

“It was um…” His eyes glanced over to his brother before hesitantly answering. “Magic, I think, but...a lot of the words are weird.”

“Magic?” Rhoda’s eyes lit up. Whatever came out of his mouth was going to be her favorite subject for the night in her mind, but it helped that it was something she was legitimately interested in. “Was it like the history of it, or the science of it, or…?” Her voice was full of excitement, so much so that she began to worry it was spooking the small darkner.

“It just has a bunch of spells in it, I think. I’m not really sure. I was just looking through it.” The look of discomfort didn’t leave his face, especially seeing the unhappiness across from him beginning to stand up.

“I’m going upstairs. Thanks for dinner.” Philbert mumbled, already walking out of the kitchen. Rhoda’s brow furrowed, looking at Ralsei’s plate. They had agreed on a rule about staying at the table until everyone was done, as a way to give them some time all together. They weren’t with each other as much as one might have thought despite all living in the same house, but Rhoda had figured that their reclusivity must have been genetic.

“Hey, Ralsei isn’t done yet!” She called after him, thinking he may have just made an honest mistake assuming. But he didn’t respond.

“Philbert?”

A door slammed shut after an uncomfortably long walk of silence up the stairs, dispelling the belief from her head. The two were left at the table by themselves, unspeaking for a moment to collectively sigh internally.

“Can I be excused?” Ralsei spoke up, having a small hint of blush on his face. “Um, please?” He sat his fork down onto his plate of pecked-at eggs. Rhoda just gave a nod of confirmation and yawned, rubbing her eyes and leaving her hands onto her face with a slow drag downward. She was surprised, however, to see that Ralsei was still standing by the table when her hands got to the bottom of her chin. He said nothing, but just sort of looked around aimlessly with his hand holding onto the table.

Rhoda looked back over his way and raised an eyebrow, waiting to see if he was going to say something. When he didn’t, she figured she had to coax it out. “Did you want something?”

The skittish kid’s eyes seemed to focus back in, his time to gather courage being cut short. “Oh, um...do you think maybe we could, um…” He looked afraid. “Outside, sometime?”

Rhoda exhaled and rubbed her cheek, thinking for a moment. It hadn’t been the first time he asked, but it was the first time he asked her and not his brother. It was almost painful to watch, as the responses had ranged from a regretful reminder that he wasn’t supposed to, to a sharp and cold “No.” Rhoda really didn’t see a whole lot of harm in Ralsei going outside with one of them, hypothetically, as long as he wore some sort of cover. However, she couldn’t betray Philbert’s trust nor did she want to, and she knew that the risk posed by one of them going out far outweighed the possible reward. She’d be lying if she said that the mere thought of Ralsei didn’t often pull at her heartstrings, wondering what he did everyday, and knowing that he couldn’t be having the best time. She was running out of time to mull things over, as the hope began to drain from Ralsei’s eyes the longer she took.

“I don’t think I can do that, Ralsei. I’m sorry. Your mom said it was really important that you stay inside until she says you can go out again, okay?” Her sincerity seemed to brush by him, his response being just a simple “Okay.”

But once again, Rhoda saw an opportunity. “But, hey. I can help you read that book if you want. Or any other book you might think looks cool.” The fangs poking out of her mouth were exposed further by the smile on her face, trying again to curry enthusiasm from the mysterious prince. “It’ll be fun.”

“Um, alright…” Ralsei caved immediately, holding his hand on top of the back of the other. “Are you sure you aren’t busy?”

“Busy? What could I possibly be busy with? Besides, I would rather do this than anything else I could make up for myself to do. I feel like we’ve never really hung out together, y’know? I’m your friend too, not just Philbert’s.” She scritched her ear with one hand turned over, starting to wonder if she was cramping his style, or just flat out trying too hard. 

“I don’t know, I thought you were always busy when you got older.” Ralsei began to walk backwards at a slow pace, looking behind himself every few seconds. “Can we go…?”

“Yeah, sure! We better make use of the quiet we have before  _ someone _ decides to get busy himself.” She walked past Ralsei and gave him a knowing smile, but he was too busy looking behind him straight ahead to notice. “Come on, turn around. I don’t want you to fall and hit your head.”

As if on cue, muffled noise began to come from one of the upstairs rooms, taking form in voices and music with bass that nearly shook the walls. Rhoda rolled her eyes and stopped her walk towards the stairs, leaving Ralsei to back into her with a light bump to her back. Her head whipped around at the same time Ralsei’s did, and he turned to walk normally without a word. “Tell you what. Why don’t you go get the book, or whatever book you want, and we can read it down here. Anywhere you want, heck. I just won’t be able to focus with that music in my ears.” She pointed towards the direction of the sound with her thumb.

“Couldn’t you ask him to turn it down? My mom said he’s not allowed to play music that loud, but I’m also supposed to not bother him…” Ralsei said with his chin down and his eyes up.

Rhoda’s mouth opened just enough for the slight grinding of her teeth to be visible as she glanced up towards the stairs again, running through the situation in her head.

“Hey Philbert.”

“What?”

“Can you turn down the music?”

“Fuck off.”

“Please?”

“It’s my house, leave if you don’t like it. Actually, no. I’m sick of your shit, you leech. Get out.”

Then shit, she would be homeless. She didn’t have a job, or any money. Her circumstances had not allowed her to get much of an education, having not even finished high school before she had to go. Without him and his mom sending him money, she was completely helpless. It simply wasn’t worth the risk for her to ask that of him.

“Hey, come on, I’ll time you!” She looked back at Ralsei, discarding the notion. “Ready?”

Like a sleeper agent being activated, Ralsei suddenly opened his eyes wide at attention and took stance with one foot out.

“Go! 1...2...3...4…” She started as Ralsei scurried up the stairs halfway on his hands, watching for him to get out of earshot. He bolted through the hallway and turned the corner, heading towards his bedroom as the music grew closer. He reached his door, the one right next to his brother’s, and threw it open. His eyes scanned the messily-neat room and spotted the large book on his bed, running over to grab it. But something popped back into his mind as he glanced at his desk in the periphery. Rhoda could read the strange dotty language, he had seen her do it before, and his brother was too preoccupied to tell them not to. He thought about grabbing the letter his mother had sent them, but he had to be quick; time was running out. Deciding it was worth a shot, he ran over and swiped up the piece of paper, carrying it back downstairs with it laying on the front cover of the book. Huffing from the thrill of the clock, and the pressure of the record hanging over his head, he pressed on and veered around the corner at full speed once again. His feet descended the stairs as fast as they could, even slipping down a few in the process but always managing to stick it. Once he approached the last few, he jumped down for good measure, only to find his timer absent from the bottom. He had been so absorbed in speed that he hadn’t noticed, and swiveled himself to see any sign of her. Their eyes locked in the direction of the living room couch, and he ran forward with one last wind of energy.

“Uh, 46...47…” The lounging bat began again from silence, sitting up and leaning onto the armrest. “Wow, you’re fast. What did you get?” She yawned and tried to catch a glance at the book.

“Oh, just um...the book I said before.” Ralsei caught his breath, slowly grabbing and holding up the letter. “But, um,” He started to say, already feeling like he was doing something wrong. “Can you read this…?” He held out the paper with pinkened cheeks, turning his eyes away from Rhoda’s look of curiosity as she took it from his hand. She looked it over and furrowed her brow, going from confused about why he would want this read to clambering for something to tell him in record time.

“Uh…” She stared at the paper, pretending to still be reading it. She moved her eyes from left to right over and over and over, but the right thing to say still wouldn’t appear to her. She sighed and put the paper onto her lap, and Ralsei instantly looked apologetic when he saw her face. “I...I don’t think you’d really understand, Ralsei. It’s just a bunch of complicated, boring, adult stuff.” Not even she felt satisfied with her answer. “But I promise it doesn’t have anything to do with you, okay?”

Ralsei lifted his hand and rubbed his cheek, as if he were trying to wipe the embarrassment from doing something so seemingly silly off of them. “Promise?”

“Of course. You can trust me, alright?” She smiled, feeling that the event was starting to become sadder than she had hoped. But it faded from her face as Ralsei’s hand pushed up his glasses to wipe his eye with a sniffle, and his mouth began to scrunch into a frown.

“I just wanna go home.” He kept his eyes shut and wiped his nose with his sleeve, trying to choke back sobs.

“Hey, hey! Don’t cry, come on…” She felt her palms begin to sweat. “You’ll be able to go home soon, alright? It says so in the letter.” She picked it up and pointed at it.

“Really?” He opened one of his eyes, the tears beginning to fog the lens of its respective side.

“Yeah! See, look, I’ll read it to you…” She held it up to her face again, and stared at the words. None of them were what she wanted to say, so she decided not to follow them. She cleared her throat just to buy herself a few more seconds of rehearsing improvisation, before flicking the paper a few times and opening her mouth.

“Dear Philbert and Rhoda,” She cleared her throat again, and even threw in a cough to suppress the silence. “I hope you three are doing well, I...uh…” She felt the two biggest eyes she’d ever seen staring at her, listening close to hear her. “I...I’ve sent some money in the attached envelope, and…” She swore in her throat for using the phrase “attached envelope”, but had to carry on. “I will let you know the second you are able to come back home, which I feel like won’t be much longer, a-and…” She looked up at Ralsei from the paper. “That’s really all I can tell you, Ralsei. I don’t want to go against your mom’s wishes. You don’t either, right?”

“No.” He sniffled and shook his head, wiping his eyes again. He had stopped crying for the most part, being at least distracted enough to not warrant it any longer.

“Good, that’s good. Now, get up on the couch, I wanna read this thing with you. Do you want to?” She patted the couch as Ralsei nodded, sitting down on the opposite end from her. She opened the book to the first page and began glancing over to it, wondering aloud. “Huh, this is kinda like reading a dictionary. I’m not really sure where to start. Hm.” She quickly shuffled through the pages to see if they were all like that. I don’t suppose you know any magic yourself, do you? Your brother can do some funky sh-stuff, I know. But that was only after I think he was like...a little older than your age. At least, that’s when he felt like showing me.” She felt her lips starting to loosen.

“Um, yeah.” Ralsei hid his smile, watching Rhoda’s eyebrows raise in surprise. “Do you…?”

“Now, hold on, I’m more interested in you. I didn’t know any when I was that young, what can you do?” Rhoda put the book down at her side to give her full attention to Ralsei. “Can I see?”

“It isn’t anything cool, everyone can do it…” He trailed off into a mumble, and Rhoda shook her head.

“I bet it’s really cool, and I don’t know anyone who could do anything magic at your age, not even Philbert! Come on, you gotta show me. Please?” She clasped her hands together in an exaggerated manner, pleading with the prince.

“O-Okay, but it really isn’t much…” He sat up straight and held his arms out, keeping both his hands straight up at a 90 degree angle. He brought them side by side, and his eyes shut. He tensed up hard, so much so that his arms shook. He bared his teeth and bit down, prompting Rhoda to wonder if she should be letting him do this. But just as she was about to tell him he didn’t have to do it, a small white orb floated out from in front of his hands, no bigger than a tennis ball. It hovered in the air almost like a bubble, slowly and slowly descending towards the floor until it touched it, and vanished on collision.

Rhoda watched in awe, her eyes staying glued to the projectile until it had vanished off the ground, to which she responded with an excited laugh and a gaping smile. “Holy crap, ‘scuse me! Ralsei, that’s so awesome, how did you learn how to do that?”

“Oh, well, um, I didn’t really learn how. My dad said it’s like throwing a punch. Anyone can do it, but your results might vary.” Her smile was too contagious for him to hold it back.

“Really? Well, I can’t even do that now. I don’t think I’ve seen anybody do that.” Rhoda scratched her head, trying to comb through her memories. “Must be a family thing.” She shrugged. “Your brother was never into that whole classical magic stuff, he says it hurts his eyes when he has his glasses on, and he can’t see where he’s shooting without them.”

“I’m not allowed to practice at home, because I might hurt someone, or hurt Philbert’s eyes.” He pulled the collar of his robe up to his mouth. “B-But I think it’s fun.” He looked down at the couch, hesitating for a moment. “Do you know anything?”

“Oh, man. I used to study and practice everyday that I could. I started really getting into it like...5 years ago? I think it’d be a little too dangerous to show you here, not to toot my own horn or anything, but…” She chuckled with a smirk.

“...I’d really like to see.” Ralsei said lowly, hardly above a whisper. “I-I can show you something else if you do.”

She was happy to hear Ralsei excited about something, thinking this was the most excited she had ever heard him be about anything. Come to think of it, she didn’t think she had ever seen him full on laugh, or even smile. But she decided to hold back to see how he could sweeten the deal. “You can? What is it?” She raised her eyebrow.

“Um, I’m not really sure how to show you…” He rubbed under his ear. “Um, are you hurting anywhere right now?”

Rhoda tilted her head, but shortly after had a lightbulb go up in her brain. “Ohhhhh, is that your family magic? The healing thing?” Ralsei nodded. “Well, that just makes the first thing you did even more impressive. But, I think you should hold off. I don’t want you to tire yourself out too much. Besides, I have an idea of what I can show you I can do.” She stood up and looked around, thinking for a moment. “Ralsei, do me a favor and turn the ceiling fan on.” 


	3. See You In The Next Hell, Losers!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think I forgot about this little thing, I think about it literally everyday. But thinkin' aint stinkin', and I smell pretty fuckin good. B)

_ Bang! _

The bedroom door slammed shut against the frame, its assaulter giving a huff as he felt around for the doorknob and clicked the lock in. His two housemates knew to never enter the room without first knocking, but he didn’t expect the same courtesy from any unwanted visitors that may show up. Also, the security felt nice, and he didn’t have any parents to tell him he can’t do it anymore, so why not? He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of glasses, still not fully confident in his room layout memorization, and shut his eyes. The mixture of nothingness and two distant portals into the world always gave him headaches, so he figured it was better to just take it all at once. Basically everyone said he shouldn’t do that, as the sudden change was worse than the brief confusion, but did they think they knew how he felt better than he did? As the frame slid under his white ears to hold them in place on his snout, he let out a low grumble at the mere thought.

He opened his eyes and blinked a few times, squinting at the world that now greeted him. Philbert liked to think that the strange, overwhelming feeling caused by his glasses made him stronger, as it grew less and less bothersome overtime, but he wanted to do stuff anyways. It wasn’t late at night at all, not even past Ralsei’s bedtime yet, but he still felt quite tired. Feeling he was at a crossroads, he walked across the clothes covered floor and sat down onto his bed, eyeing the computer atop his desk with consideration. He wondered what he would even do on it, besides mindlessly look through the internet at stuff that would probably just make him mad. His head turned to the small bookshelf on the opposite side of his room, completely empty aside from a wireless speaker. It looked empty compared to the majesty of his old room, shelves lined with records and a pristine player for them, even if a lot of them were just stuff he took from his dad to make him look more eclectic in taste. Alas, he couldn’t bring them with him when they left home, as they had to pack light and not bring anything that would be “suspicious”, as his mother told him. He had bought the speaker to try and recapture some of his old enjoyment, as the ones on his computer were too low quality, and any sort of headphones were a massive pain with his horns and his ears. While it wasn’t quite the same, it gave him a way to lay on the floor and let music occupy his brain space just like he used to at home. With a stretch of the back and a crack of the neck, the gangly prince stood to his feet and walked over to the speaker, turning it on. All of the thoughts about home and music and laying on the floor had made him go sentimental, and even nostalgic for things that didn’t even happen very long ago. It all felt so strange, how different things had become in only around a year’s time, and he often wondered if things would ever go back to how they were.

His phone was right where he left it, on the nightstand by his bed, and he turned it on to try and look for something to listen to to distract him. It didn’t really matter at that point what it was, so he just put on one of the songs he usually listened to, and turned it up loud. It was too early for anyone to be sleeping, and if it bothered them then they would just tell him to turn it down, he figured. With a sigh he lowered himself down to the floor, the hardness of it feeling good on his back, and shut his eyes. His mind began to wander, but it didn’t get too far from its usual post because of the song choice. It was a slowish song, fit for laying down to, but not light enough for it to aid him in falling asleep. But most importantly, it was one that Rhoda had shown him shortly before everything changed. He enjoyed the song for sure, but most of the time he only listened to it when she was around, because he didn’t have to worry about her not liking it. He knew the music he liked was the best, but unfortunately not everyone understands it like he does. His mind drifted further quickly, the sound of the music pushing it into an often associated place.

Philbert gently dropped the needle down onto the vinyl, his other hand resting on the volume knob that had been cranked all the way down to nothing, slowly turning it up as to prevent accidentally blasting sensitive ears with too much noise.

“What are you putting on over there?” Rhoda said not sounding too serious, her top half being crouched behind the tv to plug various cords into it. She crawled backwards out of it, standing back up a little too quickly.

“Music.” He replied, getting the volume to a respectable volume and waiting for her to recognize it. One downside of his hobby, if one could call buying things a hobby, was that he didn’t have a whole lot of access to music beyond what he already listened to, and he couldn’t listen to new music without buying it. But it was worth it to the caprine teen, being able to keep the purest, most unaltered form of music as it was meant to be heard. That being said, what he was currently playing he found out about from his smartphone wielding friend, and for some reason he decided to buy a physical copy of the whole album the song came from. He had never even listened to it before, but tonight seemed like a good time to make Rhoda happy.

Rhoda was more than ready to take that for an answer, wiping the sweat off her hands onto her pants. No activity generated a strangely high amount of sweat like plugging stuff in. “Sweet. This is a new one. I think.” She looked up at nothing, trying to focus on the music. Philbert walked over to the couch rather stiffly, anticipating both the embarrassment of doing something so stupidly cheesy in his eyes, and having to break some less than thrilling news to her at some point that night.

“Yeah.” He mumbled, sitting down onto the couch. She had only just gotten here, so he tried to push it to the back of his mind for now. “So, what are we doing?” 

“I brought over a game I thought we could play.” She crouched back down to the floor, digging through the backpack she usually brought with her to transport the game console. Philbert had only ever owned one video game console in his life, and he got it before Ralsei was even born. He had never been much of a fan anyway, and preferred a medium that didn’t require him to wear his at the time discomfort causing glasses. Rhoda however loved them, and a large amount of their hangout sessions were made up of Rhoda bringing over games to play on his tv while they talked, or just enjoyed each others company along with the game, at least one of them enjoying it either for the gameplay or the music that played from it. Philbert couldn’t always tell what was going on due to the nature of his sight, as was a problem with most things on screens. For a large majority of people, they can see them just fine, so most companies or products don’t take into consideration those who can only see magic instead of light.

“When you say ‘we can play’, do you mean…?” Philbert turned to look at his batty friend as she slid a disc into the console.

“I mean uh, what we usually do. If you’re cool with that.” Rhoda stayed on her hands and knees, waiting to see if it came up on the tv and if the disc was read properly.

“I am, I just wasn’t sure what you meant.” He sat up straight and put his hands into his lap. “I don’t mind it at all, really.”

Rhoda sucked her teeth and glanced towards the floor for a moment, beginning to see the game come up on screen. “Alright, cool. So, like, why do you have a tv? Is that a dumb question?” Her fangs poked out in a smile, growing self conscious of offending her friend.

“I mean, I can still see things, just differently than you do. My tv can switch between modes so I can see it, but then you won’t be able to. I don’t really need to see the game, since you’re the one playing it. It’s not ideal, but…” He shrugged. “It’s fine. Some things you just have to accept as reality.”

A light weight plopped down onto the opposite end of the couch, bringing its feet up along with it. “Huh. I guess that’s a good way to look at it. Maybe not the most uplifting way, but...yeah.” She turned to look at him, hanging on the title screen. “Are you alright? You look kinda down.” She usually had a hard time reading his emotions due to his glasses, the lenses being a deep red that didn’t allow for transparency, but something just felt like it was up. In fact, she had felt something was up for a couple of days now, as Philbert had been acting weirdly distant and quiet at school the latter half of the week, and she felt the best thing she could do was to try and make him have a nice time. She had brought the particular game for a reason, and while she still greatly enjoyed playing it, she mainly brought it because she knows jerks into that kind of music stuff all love to swoon over the game’s soundtrack, and it was at least vaguely similar to what she knew Philbert listened to. But if she were honest, she really couldn’t tell what that guy liked to listen to.

“I’m fine, why? Do I seem down?” He quickly ran through how his body and face were resting, finding no irregularities he could fix.

“I don’t know, you just seem quiet. I thought I maybe did something to upset you, but then you invited me over to your house, so…” She scratched her arm. “Yeah, I don’t know.”

“You didn’t do anything like that, I promise. It’s nothing you need to worry about, alright?” He was going to have to admit that was a lie eventually. “Let’s just relax.”

The music from the game and from the turntable was beginning to overlap, making a sort of dissonance in the room. They both wanted to say something and didn’t at the same time, but the lack of confidence in the idea made one of them remove the need for one of them to speak up. Philbert stood up and walked back over to the turntable, taking the needle off and turning the volume back down for next time. After quickly putting it back into its sleeve, he sat back down at the couch with a hint of defeat on his face.

“Yeah. I was gonna say something about the noise, but I can mute the tv if you wanna listen to that.” Rhoda chuckled somewhat nervously, putting both hands back on the controller.

“No, no, I wanna hear the game.” Philbert insisted, trying to buck up.

“Alright, sweet. What were you playing, anyway?” She finally decided to actually start the game, her question making Philbert’s heart sink again.

“Uh…” His eyes peeked to the side, and he decided to rip the bandaid off. “Ire Desire.” He spat out the name of the album, tensing the hand hidden from her.

“Huh. Sounds cool. I don’t think I’ve heard of it. But I’m like a music baby compared to you, so I guess you’re used to that.” She smiled, keeping her eyes on the screen. “Maybe I’ll listen to it when I get home, and I’ll text you about how it blew my mind.”

Philbert furrowed his brow, turning to look at her. A smile began to spread across his face, his first response past gut reaction being to think she’s messing with him. “Are you serious, or…?”

“Yeah? Why wouldn’t I be? Like I said, I’m not into that whole scene like you are.” Her grin dropped a little, beginning to feel judged on her knowledge in the field of music.

“Yeah, but...you showed me it. Do you not remember?” His eyebrow raised, and Rhoda’s face lit up.

“Oh! You mean Dust Debris? I don’t know, like, the album and stuff. Or is that the name of the band? I heard it the same day you did.” Her head tilted as she talked, keeping her head forward. Philbert stared at her in silence, until she glanced over and laughed. “What?”

“You are just a dork.” He smiled, exhaling through his nose and reaching down by the side of the couch, pulling a handle to recline his seat.

There was another moment of silence as the gears turned in Rhoda’s head, making her suddenly spring to life again. “Wait, did you buy a vinyl of that so you could play it here? You did, didn’t you?”

Philbert’s face quickly warmed up, and the restrained smile he tried to hide was all the answer she needed.

“Oh my god. You’re such a dork. That is so sweet. Since when are you sweet?” Her embarrassment bled through her palms, even more caught off guard by Philbert doing something like that.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He sat up, keeping a smile on his face.

“Nothing. I’m gonna like, bring you coffee or something at school on monday. God.” She giggled, but to Philbert her sentence was like a glass breaking, knowing that that wouldn’t actually be happening. Once again brought to the reality of his situation, he didn’t feel very smiley.

“Oh, yeah! That reminds me, your mom cussed some guy out when I was on my way here.” Rhoda grinned with a mouthful of teeth, working the controller like she had a hundred times before. The bizarre notion of his mom doing something like that managed to briefly unshatter his shattering realization, turning his head with a flat face.

“What? My mom?”

“Yeah! Well, she didn’t like swear at the guy, but she yelled at him, and the dude basically shit himself.”

“What happened? What did she say?”

Rhoda cleared her throat. “So I was flying over here, right? And I started to swoop down by the entrance, and this guy by the door starts screaming at me and pointing at me, and that scared the hell out of me so it messed up my landing and I kinda ate shit. I think he thought my backpack was a bomb or some shit, because he was like ‘drop your bag now!’ and I was panicking cus like I thought I was gonna go to jail or something. Dude was pointing at me and everything. Then your mom comes out and helps me up, because I sure as hell wasn’t moving with a guard yelling at me telling me not to move, and she told me to go inside, so I did.” She looked over to see Philbert’s confused face, nodding in agreement. “I know, right? It was so weird. I just kinda assumed the guards knew who I was, but maybe that was a new guy. I hustled my ass into the castle, because I did not wanna see your mom after I saw how angry she was.”

“Jeez. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my mom yell before, let alone curse someone out.” He leaned back in his seat, suddenly feeling like they were approaching a sore subject. Rhoda going back to a somewhat neutral looking face made him think she felt the same. “Do you want a drink?” He stood up, walking over towards the door in an attempt to derail the conversation.

“Sure. Do you have any like, orange soda? I’ve been thinking about that lately.” She paused the game and stood up, making Philbert feel relieved that he wouldn’t have to go out there by himself after what he had been told. He took a deep breath through his nose, taking comfort in the short darkner following behind him as they exited his bedroom and went into the hall, catching a glimpse of his mother in Ralsei’s room with him as they walked past it, turning the corner and entering the kitchen where the largest monster Rhoda had ever seen stood, looking through the fridge. Philbert felt sick to his stomach.

“Hi, Mr. Bonloud!” Rhoda said with a cheerful wave to said monster, making him turn around and stand up straight.

“Oh, hello there Rhoda. How is school going?” The king three times her height greeted, walking past Philbert to the sink as he took his place at the refrigerator, opening it back up and looking through its bountiful contents. The king was not the bulkiest man in the kingdom, but his staggering height more than made up for it in being imposing.

“It’s going alright, starting to look into universities and all that stuff. Pretty scary. My dad says I should apply to as many schools as I can, as early as I can.” Rhoda scratched the back of her head, looking towards the back of the father as he rinsed off a plate in the sink.

“Ah. Your father is a very smart man, Rhoda. You should listen to him. It feels like forever ago since I was in your spot, and I should have been as prudent as you are being now. My parents were not as wealthy as your father, but I suppose I felt I had much more slack in that regard.” He gave a deep laugh, while Philbert filled two glasses with soda from the fridge silently. His heart was absolutely racing, silently pleading that Rhoda waited for him. After he finished and put the bottle back into the fridge, he picked them both up and walked back towards Rhoda without a word. She looked back as he passed her and walked back into the hall, finding it a bit rude and abrupt but following him anyway. As she looked back, she saw the king turn around and suddenly look a whole lot less jovial. She wasn’t itching to talk to the king, even as oddly casual as he was.

“It’s weird that your dad does the dishes, right? I mean, he’s the king. He doesn’t have a guy to do that for him?” Rhoda said hushed as they made their way back to his bedroom.

“He’s just weird like that, I guess. He says it’s because he still wants to be a man, and not just a king. I don’t get him.” He felt like he could breathe again, but they weren’t light breaths. Philbert was feeling the weight looming over him start to fall, quickly becoming crushing on his shoulders. He couldn’t pretend that everything was fine anymore. If he was going to be too much of a coward to do anything about his situation, the least he could do would be to make it easy on her. She didn’t deserve to be lied to, he thought. With a slow, deep breath, Philbert put the glasses down on the table beside the couch, and sat down.

“Hey. Before you start playing again.”

Rhoda turned, being seated back in her usual position. “Huh? What’s up?”

“I, uh...I don’t really know how to say this, but it’s not good.” He looked much too serious for her liking.

“Oh. What do you mean? What’s going on?” Rhoda reached over and put the controller on the armrest next to her.

Philbert took another deep breath, pushing his hands up on his forehead as he stretched his back. Once he was back into his regular position, he glanced his eyes away from her and muttered.

“I’m leaving. Tomorrow.”

His words were too vague for Rhoda to really understand what he meant, but she knew it couldn’t mean anything good. “You’re leaving? What do you mean you’re leaving?”

“I mean that...I’m leaving here. And I don’t think I’ll be able to come back.” He almost wanted to take his glasses off so he couldn’t see her face in that moment, but he knew that would be too obvious, and it wouldn’t be fair to her. Plus, he knew that down the line he would kick himself for not taking the chance to see her more.

“What are you talking about, Philbert?” Her voice was quiet, and she knew that Philbert wasn’t the type to mess with her like this. “Where are you going?”

“Me and my brother, we have to go live somewhere else for...a while. Far away. I don’t think I’ll be able to call you or text you, either. I’m sorry.”

The expression radiating from her face was almost unbearable for Philbert to watch, as if he had just suckerpunched her. It was so out of nowhere and seemingly ridiculous to her that she didn’t know what to feel. Was this a joke? Some sort of bad excuse for him to not talk to her anymore? She didn’t know, and none of it made sense to her. “Why not? What’s going on?”

“I don’t really think I can tell you, Rhoda. I’m sorry.” Guilt was coursing through his veins, pumping out from his heart. Telling her would be bringing her into it, and she didn’t want her to be involved, or even worse, used for it.

“Why? Philbert, please.”

It was all coming down around them.

“I just can’t, Rhoda. Trust me.”

“How can I trust you if you won’t even tell me why? You can’t do this.” Her breathing was beginning to pick up, her head in a tug of war between fear, anger, and sadness.

“Rhoda, please don’t do this...I’m trying to help you here.” He was expecting her to be upset, but somehow her not understanding was something he didn’t account for. On top of all the weight he was trying to carry on his own, her difficulty in taking the news was pricking him in the side.

“Can you not trust me? After everything I’ve told you, you can’t trust me enough to tell me why you’re just gonna disappear tomorrow?”

Philbert felt himself start to boil. Didn’t anyone care about how he felt? Couldn’t anyone, especially his best friend, understand that what he’s doing is probably because he has to?

“Answer me!”

Why was everyone so inconsiderate? Why was everyone so stupid? Why was everyone so weak?

“Do you think I’m happy about this?!” Philbert lurched forward, yelling into Rhoda’s face. “Do you think I want to do this?! Do you think on top of everything, I want you yelling at me and telling me I’m in the wrong?! This isn’t good for me either, you know!” He snapped and snarled at her, continuing to blow up. “I have to suffer the same way as you, except I’m the one kicked out of my house and forced somewhere else!”

Finally, he stopped. No longer seeing red, he just saw what was left because of it instead. Rhoda had her hands up in defense, both of which were shaking and leaving a trail of smoke going upward to the ceiling. She was pressed up against the armrest as much as she could, her face hidden in her wing with a look of bracing and tears. She didn’t say anything in response.

“Rhoda? Are you okay? I’m sorry, I really am, I didn’t mean to yell. I’m just so stressed, and I know that is no excuse, but…” He slowly reached out his hands and lightly touched her arms. “I promise I won’t yell anymore, I’m not going to hurt you.” Philbert felt like he had just destroyed years of built trust in a single 10 seconds. “I’m so sorry, Rhoda. I feel horrible. Please say something.”

Rhoda quickly pulled her hands away from his, and they went to hide herself under her wings. “I’m sorry.” She sniffled, making Philbert feel on the verge of tears as well. “I just don’t want you to go. Please don’t be mad at me.”

“I’m not mad at you, there are just a lot of things weighing on me right now. I don’t want to go, either. But I think I have to, unfortunately. It isn’t my choice.”

Rhoda stayed quiet, before lowering her wings to meet him eye to eye once again. “I understand. But...can you at least tell me what time you’re leaving?”

Philbert sighed and thought for a second. “If you promise not to get in trouble trying to see me before I go, I guess I can.”

Much to Philbert’s surprise, Rhoda smiled. “Thank you, Philbert.” She sniffled, wiping her nose with her arm. “I know you don’t usually like this sort of thing, but...can I have a hug?”

“Sure. Anything you want.” He still felt awful about blowing up at her for asking some understandably upset questions, but he probably would have obliged her anyways, just for how rare it was.

“That’s all I want right now.”

Without any other words exchanged they shared a hug, albeit an awkward one due to the height differences and the wings, but it was a hug. Philbert felt like he was doing it for her sake, but pretty quickly he realized how nice it felt, and even quicker he realized he was crying too because he would never feel this again. They held each other in silence, listening to nothing but the sounds of Philbert’s heartbeat and Rhoda’s sniffling. In that one moment, amidst everything, they felt like everything would be okay.

  
  
  


**BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP**

Philbert’s eyes snapped open as he jerked himself up, a harsh beeping noise slicing through the silence left by the long ended song playing in his room. Now seated on his bedroom floor, he looked around to try and see what was going on. Realizing the noise was coming from outside his room, he jumped to his feet. A slew of possibilities ran through his head as he leapt over the clothes on his floor over to the closet, throwing the door open and grabbing the only neatly hanged outfit inside it. The alarm sound continued as he raced to change clothes, knowing that whatever it was, if someone found out his identity they would all be done for. After what felt like forever, Philbert was fully equipped. Slinging his sword over his shoulder, he threw his door open and sprinted down the hallway, over towards the direction of the alarm.

Ralsei covered his ears with a look of fear as Rhoda frantically waved an oven mitt in the air, trying desperately to get the smoke alarm to stop wailing. She showed her teeth in a cringing look mixed with a smile of anxiety, starting to detect another sound approaching.

**THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP**

Fast, heavy footsteps descended down the stairs, quickly reaching the bottom and coming right for them. “What the hell is that?!” Rhoda was in crisis mode as a black figure charged into the room, panting heavily. Shortly after they arrived, the alarm stopped beeping, leaving no trace of anything happening whatsoever. The black figure looked around, it’s rectangular face locking onto the two guilty looking culprits.

“Rhoda? Ralsei? What happened?” The figure said, visibly struggling to continue holding his sword with one hand. Ralsei still looked quite scared, being too young to note how poorly designed Philbert’s disguise outfit was, the mask’s pattern looking like someone drew 8 white dots on with a crayon, and the spikes on the shoulders looking of even lower quality, but Rhoda was scared of the person inside the costume, so it wasn’t assuaged whatsoever when Philbert took his mask off.

“Um…” Rhoda stuttered. “I was trying to show Ralsei a spell, and it set off the smoke alarm.” Her voice was low, and her chin was almost lower. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Oh.” Philbert rested his sword into both of his hands, trying to hide the relief it gave him by doing so. “So nobody is hurt or anything?”

“Other than freaking Ralsei out, no.”

He could see how scared of him Rhoda seemed to be, and it tugged his heart down. He couldn’t really blame her, he supposed. He had been a real jerk to her lately, and he had begun to miss how they used to be. “Ralsei, why don’t you go on up to bed. You aren’t in trouble, and we’ll be up in a minute.”

“Um...okay.” Ralsei said before scurrying up the stairs, feeling less scared now that he saw how big and scary his brother was.

Philbert and Rhoda were left alone downstairs, with the latter’s heart thumping hard in her chest. She was worried he might hear it until he said something.

“I’m not mad at you, you know.”

Rhoda got off of the chair she was standing on to reach the smoke alarm, putting the oven mitt down onto it. “You aren’t?”

Philbert shook his head. “No, I’m not. I’m just happy you’re alright. And I’m happy that you’re here.”

“Huh? Uh, what brought that on?” Rhoda’s cheeks flushed, the emotional whiplash only making her more flustered.

“I don’t know, I just am.” He gently laid his sword onto the ground, hoping he’d be able to get it back up the stairs later. With a smile, he held his hands out. “Can I have a hug?”

“A hug?” Rhoda looked more confused, and like she wasn’t really buying it. But at the same time, she wasn’t about to turn down the offer. “Sure.”

And nothing changed.


	4. Nothing But Junk Mail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're probably wondering, I know. What the fuck is this, you ask? Writing is hard, and I've got a lot on my plate right now. Shit, it was hard when I didn't have anything on there, ignoring that month I wrote like 3k words a day. Blame past me for burning myself out, but I don't know what this is either. Hm. Seems like it isn't malicious, though. I wouldn't be worried about that link.
> 
> (NOT SARCASM, I PROMISE IT’S FINE)
> 
> I know it may be hard to believe, based on the fact that 90% of what I write is teenagers being fucking miserable, and soon maybe even kids and adults too, but I could always use some people to talk, chat, spit the shit, whatever to, especially ones that are fanficsters (patent pending, I'll fucking mail you my tears) like yourself. Where was I going with this? I don't remember. Is this pathetic? Yes. Am I considering trying to start a discord server or something that will be dead on arrival? Also yes. Gotta get things rolling somehow! And remember, I was gonna try and say something funny here but I am blanking so here's something genuine instead, ANY feedback at all is greatly greatly greatly appreciated, criticism, comments, literally anything. Please. :)

From: ■■■■■@flightmail.com

To: RiskyDom9X@NTS.com

Subject: Congratulations!

Dear Risky,

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